{"id":58636,"date":"2025-05-10T14:02:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/feds-disrupt-proxy-for-hire-botnet-indict-four-alleged-net-miscreants\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T14:02:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T14:02:08","slug":"feds-disrupt-proxy-for-hire-botnet-indict-four-alleged-net-miscreants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/feds-disrupt-proxy-for-hire-botnet-indict-four-alleged-net-miscreants\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds disrupt proxy-for-hire botnet, indict four alleged net miscreants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week, the FBI urged folks to bin aging routers vulnerable to hijacking, citing ongoing attacks linked to TheMoon malware. In a related move, the US Department of Justice unsealed indictments against four foreign nationals accused of running a long-running proxy-for-hire network that exploited outdated routers to funnel criminal traffic.<\/p>\n

In a FLASH bulletin<\/a> [PDF] on Wednesday, the FBI warned that aging routers from Linksys, Ericsson, and Cisco, commonly found in homes and small businesses, were being actively targeted by cybercriminals.<\/p>\n

These devices, long past their update window, were compromised and made available for sale as part of a criminal proxy network marketed through the 5socks and Anyproxy domains. The botnet provided anonymity to malicious users and enabled a range of cybercrime, including distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, according to federal investigators and security researchers.<\/p>\n